Commentary

My mother passed away this summer rather suddenly, but her many lessons remain with our family. While I learned countless things from my mom, one of the most important things she taught me was the significance of an apology.

A friend told me about a family stuck in a blizzard late at night in an unfamiliar, remote area. They’d seen no one else on the road in hours. Their car, though safe and mechanically sound, ran out of gas. Their cell phones were dead, and even if they had power, reception was low.

St. Francis of Assisi is a beloved saint to many, but often a mischaracterized one. Usually shown with animals, the mainstream vision of Francis is tame and gentle. However, St. Francis was an intense and radical preacher, consumed with zeal for the kingdom of God and intent on relaying the truth to others, including Muslim sultans.

Our society is failing to get to the bottom of the issues. We spend our energy trying to treat the symptoms of social crises, while either ignoring or remaining in denial about the deeper problems in today’s world, which exist first and foremost within the human heart.

I recently watched a video prescribed by the USCCB for parents informing them about the dangers of pornography and cyberbullying. It opens up with a conversation between two mothers talking at the kitchen counter. One is looking for a recipe online for her friend. “That’s strange, my history is deleted,” she says ignorantly.

During World War II, if a contractor had been asked to construct a building knowing that it would serve as a gas chamber in Auschwitz, it goes without saying that he ought not agree to do it. By laying the foundation and supervising the plumbing, electrical and duct work, he would be contributing to, or enabling, the subsequent commission of atrocities against prisoners in the concentration camp.

Hurricane Harvey stranded Father David Bergeron in his pick-up the night it ripped through Houston. The 38-year-old priest had been visiting his brother and had to pull over on an overpass 3 miles from his home in the flood-ravaged southeast side.